CAMOGIE’S inter-county season may have drawn to a close but a brand new SE Systems Cork senior camogie championship campaign gets underway with the Carbery Division in action this weekend.
Carbery’s camogie seniors will face Seandún in the divisional section of the SE Systems Cork senior camogie championship at Castle Road on Friday evening (7:30pm).
Carbery, Carrigdhoun, Avondhu, Seandun, and Muskerry will compete in the divisional stage with the top-ranked side advancing to the quarter-finals of the senior club championship.
Disappointingly, West Cork will be without one of their key players as Newcestown’s Ciara O’Sullivan tore her ACL during a Cork training session before the All-Ireland final.
It is a damning blow to O’Sullivan who suffered a similar injury back in 2023 and a huge blow for Carbery who face a tough first round opponent.
Daire O’Brien of Enniskeane, who was part of the Cork U23 team this year, will also be unavailable for Friday night. On the plus side, Carbery will have senior and U23 inter-county panellists Libby Coppinger (St Colum’s), Millie Condon (Ballinascarthy), Claire Kingston (Newcestown) and Amy McCarthy (Clonakilty) togged out.
There is strong representation from former senior clubs in Newcestown and Enniskeane while other West Cork clubs including Clonakilty, Ballinascarthy, St Colums and Barryroe are also providing players. Bandon and St Patrick’s Skibbereen are the only clubs without any current representation.
Bandon man Teddy O’Regan is manager of the team for 2025 as well being the current Carbery Camogie Chairperson. Other backroom team members include Barryroe natives TJ O’Donovan, Mary Harrington (Secretary), Eimear White and Karen O’Callaghan (Development Officer), Newcestown’s Hilda O’Mahony and Mary Burrows (Treasurer) and Clonakilty’s Íde Ní Mhuirí (Irish and Children’s Officer).
Danielle O’Neill from Enniskeane is the Carbery PRO as well as a player on this year’s panel.
For Teddy O’Regan, the target is simple. Get this Carbery team to perform to the best of their ability on the county stage.
‘The initial target is to do ourselves justice and to be in a situation where we play to our ability,’ the Carbery manager informed The Southern Star.
‘It is quite challenging between not having players available and also trying to bring them together while managing their club and ladies football commitments. There are a number of girls involved with Munster rugby as well. It’s difficult to manage everything at the same time.’
With other roles in the Carbery board impacting on some of the backroom team’s time, a huge amount of effort is going in give the West Cork division every chance of progressing in the competition.
‘It’s a bit fluid in terms of the roles right now,’ O’Regan explained.
‘Eimear White is involved because of her goalkeeping expertise as she would have played in goal for Cork. We have a very narrow pool of people involved. Some of these people would be doubling up as camogie officers on the Carbery board as well.
Earlier this year, there were developments that players from intermediate and junior clubs that played for the divisional side (i.e. Carbery) would not be allowed to play for their respective clubs in their upcoming championships.
Intense behind-the-scenes work from the Cork county board, saw that Camogie Association rule amended, allowing the West Cork side to put close to their best team forward.
As a result, this might be a year in which divisional players appreciate the opportunity to represent Carbery more than ever.
For O’Regan and his players, they are ignoring any off-field noise and instead focussing on matters out on the pitch.
‘To be perfectly honest, I think the importance of divisional teams flies over players heads,’ the Carbery manager commented.
‘Players are looking at the here and now really, the immediate situation. They are really happy to play and they don’t know what the future may hold. So, they need to seize the opportunity when it is there.
‘I think it’s a perfect opportunity, if you can progress. There has been a lot of solidarity within the divisions because of the requirement for the rule change for the divisions to stay in the championship.
‘Therefore, we would be in contact with the other divisions fairly regularly. Obviously, if you perform in the county senior championship in Cork, there is no higher level to perform at. You can attract the attention of the Cork selectors if you perform.’
The inter-county season may be over but there is still difficulty for divisions like Carbery to get their panel together and train regularly.
‘We had a few girls on the Cork U23 and senior panel and they weren’t available to us earlier in the season,’ McCarthy concluded.
‘Then you have a situation with girls involved with their club and ladies football. Even those involved with the Cork LGFA team. It’s difficult to get them all together.
‘We will be relying heavily on the girls who were with the Cork seniors, initially. One of them would have been Ciara O’Sullivan but unfortunately she is out injured. You are also talking about Claire Kingston, Millie Condon and Libby Coppinger being involved too.’
Progressing to a county quarter-final is a huge ask but beating Seandún would represent a positive start Carbery camogie could ask for on Friday evening.
Carbery camogie 2025 squad: Ciara Aherne, Ciara Burrows, Ciara O'Sullivan, Claire Kingston, Karen O'Sullivan, Orla Kelleher, Sarah Burrows (all Newcestown), Daire O'Brien, Danielle O'Neill, Emma O'Driscoll, Grace Nyhan, Maebh O'Brien, Sinéad Hurley (all Enniskeane), Amy McCarthy, Aoife O'Flynn Meade, Katie O'Driscoll, Niamh Kennedy, Sinéad Crowley (all Clonakilty), Clara Crowley, Katelyn O'Neill, Millie Condon, Moira Barrett, Siofra Patwell (all Ballinascarthy), Evelyn Burke, Maggie Coppinger, Libby Coppinger (all St Colums), Caoimhe Murphy, Emily O'Donovan (both Kilbree), Maria O'Donovan (Barryroe), Michaela Holland (Kilbrittain/Timoleague).
